Scriptwriting

There are many different ways to tell stories.

Any medium that communicates a sequence of events can be thought of as a story. Pictures can tell a story. Sometimes people put pictures and words together, which gives us cartoons and comics. Poetry can tell a story too. Even music can tell a story!

In this article, we explore a specific mode of storytelling though: that of the play script and screenplay. A play script is a script written for theatrical productions. Romeo and Juliet is a play script. The script written for movies or TV is usually called a screenplay.

Books tell stories in words, whereas movies and theatre tell stories with images and sound as well. What plays and movies have in common is the central importance of the script: the story is often considered the original foundation block that the whole project is based on. The script is obviously written very differently from a prose book.

Format

The format for writing scripts and fiction is different as scripts are written to be performed, whereas novels and short stories are read individually. In scripts, writers need to give the actors their lines, instructions on how to perform them, as well as other information for the producers.

A novel is usually broken into chapters, whereas a script is divided into Acts, and each Act is divided into different scenes.

Conflict

In both scripts and novels and short stories, there is a central conflict that moves the plot forward. Both scripts and novels or short stories have at least one main conflict, which is explored through the characters’ actions. In scripts, there is a much shorter amount of time to ‘explore’ in. Stage plays and films usually don’t last more than a couple of hours – some TV episodes are as short as 20 minutes nowadays! – and so the writer has to write with this in mind – one page of script translates to approximately one minute of screen time or stage time.

Characters

In novels or short stories, writers can reveal their characters by describing their inner emotions and thoughts as well as through their dialogue and actions. In scripts, the audience can only get to know the characters through what they say and their actions. Their emotions have to be expressed outwardly. For instance, they could yell to show they are angry, sob to show they are traumatised, or giggle when embarrassed. The scriptwriting puts in how they visualise the character speaking a line or acting – this can be interpreted by the actor in their own way.

E.g. Betty: (nervously) I’d love to come to the dance with you.

In a novel, there would be space to go into details about how and why Betty is feeling that way:

Eg. Betty felt hot and confused. She had been waiting for this moment for so long when TJ would ask her to the dance. She wanted to be cool about it, but she was a scramble of emotions. When he asked her, she just giggled nervously before replying: “I’d love to come to the dance with you.” She felt so stupid afterwards. She beat herself up about it for the rest of the day.

Emotions can also be shown through actions in scripts.

Eg. Thato: I don’t want you to go.

Thato slams his fist on the table and then storms out of the room.

In fiction, we could also show more of why he acts that way when he is angry.

Eg. “I don’t want to go.” Thato felt trapped. He had no words to express how he felt. All he could do was slam his fist into the table. When he was angry, he could never stay and argue it through in a reasonable way like she wanted him to. He felt suffocated and just needed to get out of there…

Description

Writers of fiction also rely on the imagination of readers. They can describe a scene, but that scene will be interpreted differently by each reader. Every reader will have a different ‘film’ of the scene in their imagination which is unique to them.

In screenplays, much less is left up to the audience’s imagination as the audience is shown the setting through the camera lens, and the setting could be in any location. The characters are also directly shown to us – the audience knows what they look like and how they dress by what they see on screen.

The writer of the screenplay has very few words to describe the setting. The directions in the script are minimal.

Eg. The scene takes place in a rundown, smoky bar at midnight.

In fiction, you could describe the bar in as much detail as you want to.

 

Writing for screen vs writing for stage

What you hear and what you see

Just as there are differences between writing novels and short stories and writing scripts, there are also differences between writing a screenplay for film or TV and writing a play to be acted on a stage.
These two forms of script appeal to two different senses: what you hear and what you see.

Plays are much more about what you hear – you are listening in to the conversations of the actors. It is a bit like eavesdropping on people’s conversations in real life.

Films and TV shows are usually more visual than plays. They don’t need to rely mostly on dialogue to guide the story (which plays do). They can also take the audience anywhere through the camera lens. The director can choose what the audience sees – a close-up of a face, a sweeping shot of a beach etc.

When writing a screenplay, you have a visual medium with no limitations except budget. You can take the audience out of their seat and into outer space, if you want or to lots of different countries like in a James Bond movie. You can take them underwater or to a fantasy universe created using CGI.

The process

The process of scriptwriting for plays and for screen are also different. Fewer people are involved in creating a play for the stage. The writer submits the script, and then the director works with it, and can make changes if necessary, just as an editor may work with a story writer. If a director wants to make cuts to the text, they have to ask for permission from the playwright first.

However, writing a screenplay is a different process. It is both an individual and collaborative effort. Once the writer pitches the script, and it is accepted, it becomes a collaboration. The writer is usually expected to do rewrites as the filming process is happening – sometimes, they have to make changes to a script the day before shooting! Making films is very fast-paced, and a screenwriter will often be expected to submit various changes decided on by the producers and the director.

However, the ‘look’ of these written scripts follows similar formatting conventions that all writers of these genres need to follow.